Another Way
by 8bitpie
Summary: 'Bruce trudges through the wreck of Arkham; the mask of Batman gathers dust in Lady Arkham's catacombs.' Set in Telltale's Batman universe. Canon divergence. Between the final battle between Bruce and Lady Arkham and the weeks leading up to Gordon's speech, Bruce discovers a third option for Harvey Dent. Contains very minor Bruce/Selina and some more prominent Bruce/Harvey. Slow.
1. Chapter 1

Bruce trudges through the wreck of Arkham; the mask of Batman gathers dust in Lady Arkhams catacombs. Temporarily. Gotham will force Bruce to don the mask again and solve its troubles soon enough, but for now he is exposed.

Bruce and the Lady's fight shook the foundations of Arkham enough for them to slip through a hole in its back undetected, enough to trudge to a road where they call Lucius to pick them up; Bruce thinks to himself: _What a pathetic escape._ No bat-grappling into the ceiling and into thin air to Gordon's frustration, no gliding away with his cape, no zipping off in his batmobile. Just him and his delirious Butler hanging on his side.

Bruce thinks of the million ways the final fight could have gone better. He's injured in several places, the knees, the chest, innumerable internal injuries, and a warm trickling, throbbing and ringing to his right that reminds him of the mark the Lady left him before she died. He hopes most of his ear survives - no, he hopes his _hearing_ in that ear survives, at least. Superficialities aside, if he's deaf in one ear it'll leave him with a blind spot that can't be compensated for with bat-tech.

 _Well,_ he thinks to himself. _If the whole ear goes, it'll be easier to fit into my cowl._

The world has betrayed him - no, not because of recent events, but the world seems to be trying to shake him off of it. The world spins like a fairground cup, imagery which somehow strikes him as something John Doe would appreciate. Alfred's weight helps his vertigo, in a strange way. He sways right, Alfred's weight keeps him to the left. If he sways left, Alfred digs his feet into the ground almost instinctually. Injured as he is, Alfred is still trying to help him.

Bruce doesn't deserve it. That's what he thinks to himself. He's beginning to feel like he's fumbling in the dark. He'd started the whole Dark Knight crusade to help people that the law couldn't - that even Gordon couldn't. But it seemed like he was barely holding Gotham above water, like he was fixing things at the same rate they were broken, and every person he saved was just to even the numbers with the people he couldn't.

He'd made it to Alfred, but Alfred is an old man; the Lady's beatings would hurt him more than Bruce, a spry youth in comparison.

A spry youth. Bruce is thirty years old, but he feels older. His lifestyle means that physically, he probably is. The amount of damage he's taken - hell, even if his ear is fine, the gunshots he hears on a day-to-day basis'll be enough to give him hearing damage before he's sixty. How long will he be able to _be_ batman? He's just a plaster to Gotham's wounds. He can save individual people, but the systematic problems of the city are out of his hands. Harvey could've changed that.

Harvey. He'd seen him out of the corner of his eye when he was sprinting through Arkham. He looked terrified in his tiny cell. When he'd sent him there, he'd thought he could change things in Arkham, so Harvey could get better. But that was a stupid move. No matter what _could_ change, the fact is: Arkham was a wreck before the Lady and him fought, and now it's worse. The orderlies wouldn't change their ways just because Bruce funneled money into the Asylum; they hated the inmates, treated them like animals, let them loose to tear at eachother's throats and then said there was nothing they could do. Harvey wasn't safe in there.

But a random jail Bruce knew nothing about would be no help either. He wants Harvey to be somewhere where he doesn't feel helpless, or at least somewhere where he has people who can help him. Isn't that what caused his problems in the first place? Jail would care about a mentally ill man about as much as Arkham would. Arkham, jail, and Gotham - none would take Harvey in.

Bruce wonders if some part of him sent Harvey to Arkham as recompense for Harvey doing the same thing to him. But when he thinks of what Harvey did, he doesn't clench his teeth and fists and furrow his brow and say 'damn you, Harvey', because he can't blame him. There is no anger in his heart for Harvey Dent. There is no anger in his heart for Gotham, either. Both of them were - are - sick. He was trying to help them get better. So was Lady Arkham, in a way, by trying to make them realise there was a problem, to not 'look the other way'. But she was wrong in thinking that was what they were doing.

"Bruce?"

It wasn't that they wouldn't look out of ignorance, or that they enjoyed suffering - it was that there was nothing they could do. Hill had an iron grip on the city's surface, Falcone had an iron grip on the underworld, and his own father had control over everything without Gotham suspecting a thing. The people knew this. But Hill kept getting re-elected, Falcone kept the criminal economy under his thumb and Thomas threw whoever he wanted in Arkham because he knew that was where nobody ever comes back. The people of Gotham who suffered most were cast aside with Thomas' enemies to a place they could never come back from.

"Ah, Bruce?"

And that was where he'd sent Harvey Dent. The man who could have been the antidote. He had become a problem, and Bruce had sent him to the same no-man's land that his father sent all the problems.

"Bruce, are you…"

Arkham wouldn't help dent. Arkham wouldn't help anybody. Arkham was the closet Gotham shoved its mess into when it didn't want to clean it up.

"Bruce, Harvey's here."

And there he is. Gaping.

Bruce, neck-down Batman, the wind caressing his bare cowl-less cheekbone and cooling the blood on the right side of his head, stares back.

"You're… Batman," says Harvey.

Bruce stares. "I'm Batman," he replies. He can't tell what Harvey's feeling right now, so he doesn't know how to act.

Harvey bends slightly, covering his face. "No," he says. "No, this can't be right… you're not…"

"A privileged rich boy isn't someone you'd expect to dealing punches to villains, no," Bruce says, giving him a halfhearted smile, "Considering the people who made the villains in the first place."

"Made the villains?"

"The people at the top. People like me, building their fortunes on the backs of the poor. The fish rots from the head down, etcetera. It was what we - what you were going to change."

"No," says Harvey in a growling voice - no. Not Harvey. The other one. 'Dent' - "Harvey wouldn't have been able to change anything. He was weak. You. You stopped us from delivering REAL change. We were cleansing the FILTH of this city."

"You blew up innocent people, Dent. People who were suffering. Harvey could've cleaned up Hill's mess. Harvey could've made it so Batman wasn't needed anymore."

"Batman was weak, too. YOU were weak. YOU use your fortune to -"

"To help people," Harvey says, interrupting himself - no, Dent - "His fortune - he used it to be Batman, to help people - YOU hurt people, his Butler -"

Alfred's passed out on Bruce's shoulder. Bruce had stopped noticing the weight. Now, he feels heavy. The world is spinning again. He needs to get back to the batcave. Alfred needs to.

"Listen, Harvey, Dent - I need to leave," Bruce says, swallowing. "Alfred needs help. He's the only person I have left. He's my family. I can't… I can't…"

Exhausted, he can't hold his thoughts back any more. He thinks of his parents - more his mother, really - he thinks of Oswald and Harvey, all the people he's lost, or have lost themselves.

"I can't lose anybody else."

He wonders if Harvey understands. When he and Harvey were in hospital, he asked him how he felt about the news of his family's - more Thomas', really - actions being brought to light. He knew how Bruce felt about family. About those closest to him. He just wants the people in his life to be safe. That's all.

Lucius will be here soon in the batmobile and Batman doesn't have time for Harvey's grudges against him or Dent's raving. He doesn't want another fight.

"I've been alone with him for a long time, Bruce," says Harvey. "Back in the Asylum. I can get him to shut up, for a little while."

Bruce can see the Batmobile coming down the road.

"He'll want to hurt you. I'll try to stop him. Just… go."

The batmobile pulls up. Lucius looks concerned inside the tinted windows. The doors open.

Bruce sighs with relief and walks to the car, putting Alfred inside. His head lolls. Bruce collapses next to him and looks to Harvey.

Now that he's sitting down, he can barely keep his eyes open. Vague images of Arkham and a generic jail appear when he blinks.

"Harvey… get in the car," he says.


	2. Chapter 2

Most of the journey is spent with his eyes closed, fading in and out of consciousness. He hears breathing to his right and left. He doesn't know if it's Harvey, Dent, or his imagination. He tries to keep himself awake in case Dent tries to hurt him, but as vulnerable as he is, Dent would've already hurt him if he wanted to.

Hands on his shoulders shake him awake. He sees Lucius, brows upturned in concern but lips pressed together in anger. He probably wonders why Bruce invited the tyrannical, skyscraper-crumbling mayor into the batmobile.

"We're in your living room, not in the batcave. I didn't want _him_ knowing where it is. He went into the bathroom and argued with himself for an hour, Bruce! He's a madman."

Bruce blinks slowly. His brain isn't awake enough to explain why Harvey and Dent are here.

Lucius sighs. "I've been taking care of Alfred, but he needs proper help. I'll use some of your funds to _convince_ some people to help him confidentially and not ask any questions. It's not the cleanest thing to do, but since you're harbouring a criminal, I don't think you'll have much of an issue with it, will you?"

Bruce nods. There's a flash of pity in Lucius' eyes. "I just hope you know what you're doing," he says. "I'm grateful you've stopped the Children of Arkham, and I have faith in you to keep Gotham safe, but… well, anyway. I'm going to make those bribes now."

Bruce nods again and after Lucius leaves, he reaches up and feels his ear. He's bled a lot, but it's dried and gone crusty, and he's only lost a chunk of his ear. He wonders if it'll damage his 'millionaire playboy' persona; he tries to have faith in people, but some people are so superficial they might think a missing bit of ear renders his beauty tarnished forever.

Oh, well. He never liked that persona. The 'reclusive billionaire who occasionally funds museums and gives to charity' is closer to home. The 'playboy' schtick was mostly the media's doing, fabricating it after he'd made some friendly conversation with the wrong women. Not that it was their fault. A man and a woman get along slightly and the media jumps to conclusions, and he let them culminate for too long.

Something wet and cold touches his ear and he jumps up.

"Calm down, I'm cleaning your ear," comes Harvey's voice. He's holding a wet flannel and sitting on the sofa Bruce jumped from.

"Oh. 'Course," says Bruce, sitting back down.

Harvey continues the cleaning. It's quiet. Bruce can hear Harvey's breathing next to him, slow like his own. He swallows.

"Why are you -"

"Don't ask questions," Dent snaps back in his growly voice, "Harvey's wasting time."

Harvey and Dent are two different people. When Harvey mentioned the drug had caused some _issues_ to resurface, he'd likely meant Dent, which means Dent's been around for a long, long time. Dent is Harvey's protector, acting out in his defense. Dent's a separate person to Harvey. Perhaps, Bruce thinks, because he's so vulnerable, Dent doesn't feel the need to protect Harvey from anything. Or maybe Dent, like Harvey, isn't beyond saving. Or maybe there's some other reason Dent isn't murdering him right now.

Bruce remembers what Selina had said after she threw him the skeleton key: Harvey had wanted to be loved. Selina had given him that. And to Harvey, Bruce had taken that all away.

But that wasn't the truth. Bruce had liked Selina, in a way. They'd danced and stepped in time with words and in the bar when they were fighting their opponents, and perhaps in another universe, they could've been something. Bruce had loved some girls, so he knew he was capable of that.

But Selina isn't the kind of girl he could love. He tried to keep her at an arm's length; she wasn't on anybody's side, and no amount of compatibility would change that, and she wasn't honest. Not like Harvey. Harvey, Bruce had been able to tell, was an honest man. When he talked about making the city a better place, Bruce had been able to see truth in his eyes and his heart on his sleeve. To Bruce, whose method of change involved deceit and lies and false identities, this was… refreshing. It was like seeing his younger self reflected back at him. Harvey had given him hope for Gotham. And even more so, Harvey had given him hope for himself. That he would be able to put away the cape and cowl and be Bruce Wayne, and be himself with a friend - no personas.

But no more than that. He hadn't fooled himself into thinking Harvey was interested in him in that way, even before Selina. And it was fine. Bruce had had feelings for men like that before, and he'd been fine just standing by their side. He wasn't a teenage boy trying to figure himself out; he was Bruce Wayne man of many masks, and hiding feelings is nothing new for him.

Still, he _had_ at least wanted Harvey to _stay_ friends with him. The scene Harvey had walked into and assumed things had changed that. The actions he'd taken as mayor had changed that. Bruce had no intention of sleeping with Selina and every intention of making up for his father's wrongdoings, but Harvey hadn't believed any of that. And so, he'd lost Harvey.

Actually, since he's sure Dent played a part in convincing Harvey that Bruce wayne was the worst person to have ever lived, it was more like Dent had taken Harvey away from him. For the first time in a while, he feels something burning in his chest. Anger... or broken ribs. Or a punctured lung.

Bruce think he should probably go to a hospital at some point.

"Well? Are you gonna say thank you?" Growls Dent, jerking Bruce back into reality.

"Thanks, I guess," says Bruce. Not having dried blood all over his ear does feel better.

"It's weird, seeing you like that," Says Harvey. "You're Bruce, but you're also Batman. I mean, in the Batman suit. I don't know… which one's the real you."

Harvey pauses, and then laughs. "I guess I'm, uh, not one to talk."

"They're both me," says Bruce. "Or they're both parts of me, anyway. Harvey, I'm - I wanted to help people, like you. So I started, uh, dressing like a bat and beating up backalley criminals at night, and donating to charities and things in the day, but it was never enough until you came, and just…"

Bruce isn't entirely sure what he's trying to say, but he continues anyway. "I still believe in Harvey Dent. You can't change Gotham anymore and, well, you did blow up a building and instate martial law, but you can at least be the friend I used to have -"

"FRIEND?" Growls Dent. "Oh, and what a friend you were to me! Sleeping with MY Selina! You and your whole family are corrupt, deceitful bastards, and this whole Batman thing just proves it more -"

"No," says Harvey. "He helped us when the COA were after us, he stopped us from hurting people -"

"As Batman! As Bruce, he stole Selina from you!"

"He… he did…"

Bruce decides he needs to clear his name. "Harvey, Dent, I told you, I didn't. I was staying the night, because I was injured _by the Children of Arkham_. You saw the injuries back then, you know who I am now, I -"

"Stop making EXCUSES!" Bellows Dent. "You sent us to Arkham! You'll probably send us back after this! And there's only _one way_ to stop that from happening."

Dent stands up. Bruce tries to remain calm, but he can't help but be reminded of when Harvey'd snapped and Bruce'd had to wear him down. Except this time he's too worn down himself to do anything if Harvey decides to use his bulk to snap him in half.

"I'm not going to send you back to Arkham," says, Bruce. "They can't help you. I was in there too. I know what it's like. I wouldn't send my worst enemy there."

Dent - he can tell it's Dent by the narrowing of his eyes - seems to hesitate. "So jail, then?"

Bruce shakes his head wearily. "No," he says. "I can't. I can't just send you into some hole to rot. Not Harvey, anyway."

Dent doesn't say anything, but sits down after a few seconds. "So exactly _what_ do you plan on doing with dear old Harvey Dent?"

Bruce rubs his temples and closes his eyes. "I don't know. Maybe… maybe I can get you a fake passport and just… send you off somewhere. Maybe you can start a new life…"

It's a shit plan. Dent's dangerous. Bruce wouldn't feel good sending him back out to the public. Besides, Harvey Dent _killed_ people. He couldn't just be let off scot-free.

"No," says Harvey, interrupting his train of thought. "I don't want to do that. I can't just start again, not after all this. And I can't… I want to make up for what I've done."

Bruce isn't sure what to say, after a few moments, Harvey says: "Don't leave me alone with him again, Bruce."

That hurts, and Bruce realises: after he thought Bruce had slept with Selina, in Harvey's mind, it was like losing two friends at once. They'd both betrayed him - left him for eachother. But Harvey didn't know. Selina had said that Harvey had badly wanted to be loved - but he _had_ been loved. By Bruce. He'd just never told him.

Bruce swallows. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I want to do the right thing, Harvey, but I don't know what it is. I don't know what choice to make. I just want you to be - I just want things to be okay."

But if Bruce tells him now, he's not sure it'll help. It might just confuse Harvey Dent further. He might thinks Bruce is lying - or worse, he'll believe him, and he'll hate him for it.

But this might be the last time Bruce will ever see Harvey again.

Bruce stands up. "I don't know what to do, but whatever happens - just know that Harvey's always been loved, and never been alone. "

He walks out before he can see the consequences of his indirect confession, hiding away in his bedroom to sleep in a bed and non-Batman clothes.


End file.
